America can make real change happen

Published: Monday, March 4, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, March 1, 2013 at 4:18 p.m.

The promise of change is the seed of hope that keeps humans from despair.

In his first presidential campaign, Barack Obama ran on a simple premise: Not only are real changes in the way we govern America possible, but they can and will happen if the American people put their will and their votes to work for change.

Unfortunately, one critical part of the equation got lost in the shuffle: Change is a process that does not happen overnight. We are quick to give up on change because change is one of those things that can happen so slowly you hardly realize its happening.

Often, a big change is the culmination of a series of small changes, each one a battle in itself. No one explained to us how unendingly long and bitterly fought the process of change would be.

The biggest challenge of the Obama administration is that there is a devastating juxtaposition of two distinctly different battles, each pushing against the other. The first is the battle for the process of change itself. The second battle is for the changes the American people have said by poll and by vote that they want to see implemented by this administration.

The changes Americans wanted implemented that were debated during the election season of 2008, include:

(1) Shrinking the deficit.

(2) An effective way to deal with the national debt and the collapse of the economy at the end of 2008. Most Americans are alarmed at the trillion-dollar bailouts that are the result of deregulation

(3) An end to the war in Iraq that does not include replacing that war with an unending war with Islam.

(4) Affordable health care for all Americans

(5) Stopping the outsourcing of American industry without becoming isolationists. Less dependence on foreign imports, including energy.

(6) A resolution to the battle over illegal immigration.

(7) Reforming the tax code. A simpler code with a fairer portion of the tax burden being shared by the most wealthy Americans.

These are the issues we elected our lawmakers to address. But because we have never fought the more important battle, the fight to implement the process of change itself, the way the gang in Washington operates did not change. Therefore, most of the changes we had on our wish list have not happened.

Instead of standing together to fight for the changes the American people wanted, members of Congress pointed their guns at each other. The result has been a four-year standoff that has left the American people paying grown-ups to launch a bunch of playground arguments, instead of tackling the list of critical issues that we sent them to Washington to address.

Many members of the current Congress have refused to ratify critically needed Cabinet and judicial appointments not because the candidates are unqualified but because so many representatives have taken a vow to undermine the Obama presidency. They have refused to enact needed legislation for the same reason.

At the same time, they are willing to see the whole country destabilized by repeated brinkmanship and artificially engineered crises (five since 2011) in order to block the effective leadership of a president who has been legally elected by the American people.

Again, this is the result of fighting over changes without fighting for the process of change itself. If this administration and Congress have proven nothing else, we now know that effective changes are not going to happen unless we demand that our lawmakers themselves are held accountable for the way they govern.

The process of change should begin with a fair warning to senators and congressmen that they will be removed from office if they do not find a way to work with their legally elected colleagues. The time has come for Americans themselves to demand that either their elected representatives do the work they were sent to Washington to accomplish (i.e., work together in a bipartisan fashion) or they will be pulled from office, no matter where they are in their term, and replaced with another representative who will.

If we allow elected “game players” to continue playing chicken in our legislative halls, we have no one to blame but ourselves if our credit rating goes down in the world and our word is no longer honored because we have not made our legislators honor it.

Our Constitution does not require us to suffer such insolent defiance of the will of the people. Poll after poll has shown that the people of this country are tired of this no-win game and are worried about our nation’s standing in the world.

Campaign financing by corporate interests and wealthy special-interest groups must be completely eliminated. Politicians who must depend on the wealth of a favored few to put them in office and keep them there will never be free to work for the good of the people who have elected them.

The people of America should convene a council of our most learned political scholars to revamp the way legislators are elected and under what conditions they will be allowed to remain in office. If we fail to do this, gerrymandering, corporate interests fighting to control political parties and a culture of hubris among the privileged few will lead to the death of government “by the people” as we know it.

<p>The promise of change is the seed of hope that keeps humans from despair.</p><p>In his first presidential campaign, Barack Obama ran on a simple premise: Not only are real changes in the way we govern America possible, but they can and will happen if the American people put their will and their votes to work for change.</p><p>Unfortunately, one critical part of the equation got lost in the shuffle: Change is a process that does not happen overnight. We are quick to give up on change because change is one of those things that can happen so slowly you hardly realize its happening.</p><p>Often, a big change is the culmination of a series of small changes, each one a battle in itself. No one explained to us how unendingly long and bitterly fought the process of change would be.</p><p>The biggest challenge of the Obama administration is that there is a devastating juxtaposition of two distinctly different battles, each pushing against the other. The first is the battle for the process of change itself. The second battle is for the changes the American people have said by poll and by vote that they want to see implemented by this administration.</p><p>The changes Americans wanted implemented that were debated during the election season of 2008, include:</p><p>(1) Shrinking the deficit.</p><p>(2) An effective way to deal with the national debt and the collapse of the economy at the end of 2008. Most Americans are alarmed at the trillion-dollar bailouts that are the result of deregulation</p><p>(3) An end to the war in Iraq that does not include replacing that war with an unending war with Islam.</p><p>(4) Affordable health care for all Americans</p><p>(5) Stopping the outsourcing of American industry without becoming isolationists. Less dependence on foreign imports, including energy.</p><p>(6) A resolution to the battle over illegal immigration.</p><p>(7) Reforming the tax code. A simpler code with a fairer portion of the tax burden being shared by the most wealthy Americans.</p><p>These are the issues we elected our lawmakers to address. But because we have never fought the more important battle, the fight to implement the process of change itself, the way the gang in Washington operates did not change. Therefore, most of the changes we had on our wish list have not happened.</p><p>Instead of standing together to fight for the changes the American people wanted, members of Congress pointed their guns at each other. The result has been a four-year standoff that has left the American people paying grown-ups to launch a bunch of playground arguments, instead of tackling the list of critical issues that we sent them to Washington to address.</p><p>Many members of the current Congress have refused to ratify critically needed Cabinet and judicial appointments not because the candidates are unqualified but because so many representatives have taken a vow to undermine the Obama presidency. They have refused to enact needed legislation for the same reason.</p><p>At the same time, they are willing to see the whole country destabilized by repeated brinkmanship and artificially engineered crises (five since 2011) in order to block the effective leadership of a president who has been legally elected by the American people.</p><p>Again, this is the result of fighting over changes without fighting for the process of change itself. If this administration and Congress have proven nothing else, we now know that effective changes are not going to happen unless we demand that our lawmakers themselves are held accountable for the way they govern.</p><p>The process of change should begin with a fair warning to senators and congressmen that they will be removed from office if they do not find a way to work with their legally elected colleagues. The time has come for Americans themselves to demand that either their elected representatives do the work they were sent to Washington to accomplish (i.e., work together in a bipartisan fashion) or they will be pulled from office, no matter where they are in their term, and replaced with another representative who will.</p><p>If we allow elected “game players” to continue playing chicken in our legislative halls, we have no one to blame but ourselves if our credit rating goes down in the world and our word is no longer honored because we have not made our legislators honor it.</p><p>Our Constitution does not require us to suffer such insolent defiance of the will of the people. Poll after poll has shown that the people of this country are tired of this no-win game and are worried about our nation's standing in the world.</p><p>Campaign financing by corporate interests and wealthy special-interest groups must be completely eliminated. Politicians who must depend on the wealth of a favored few to put them in office and keep them there will never be free to work for the good of the people who have elected them.</p><p>The people of America should convene a council of our most learned political scholars to revamp the way legislators are elected and under what conditions they will be allowed to remain in office. If we fail to do this, gerrymandering, corporate interests fighting to control political parties and a culture of hubris among the privileged few will lead to the death of government “by the people” as we know it.</p>